January 9, 2013 -- With the help of The Nature Conservancy in Massachusetts, fishermen and
scientists have started tagging cod, inserting $300 trackers into about
130 fish thus far to better understand and protect their spawning

“It’s like E-ZPass,” explained Chris McGuire, a marine program
director with the Conservancy, in a phone interview. “…The tags that are
inserted in fish are like the things you have on your windshield. We
put 38 receivers under water. Any time a tagged fish swims in range of a
receiver, it records that information.”

The goal is to more accurately locate spawning cod habitats to
institute small-scale fishing closures. The closures would protect the
spawning cod – the bread and butter for local fishermen - while still
allowing the overall industry to continue.

Several Scituate fishermen have helped spearhead the program. Though
unusual for fishermen to request increased fishing restrictions, McGuire
said that’s the end goal.

“You get to a tipping point,” McGuire said. “People recognize they
need to be protected from themselves. You have these guys who have been
fishing out of Scituate for decades have seen the population go up and
down, but recently they are concerned that they and other fishermen are
fishing too hard at this time of year when the cod are all gathered
together for reproducing. If that’s interrupted, there is no future of
cod fishing on the South Shore coast. It’s a short-term cost for a
long-term gain.”

March 23, 2015 -- The rules are a good first step, but illegal fishing is a global problem that requires a multinational approach to solve it. The government needs to work with other major fish importers worldwide to ensure that fishermen with contraband cargo can’t unload their wares.